Hysterical Journey to Historic Places

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SECRETARIAT

A horse named Citation won the Triple Crown in 1948, which happened to be the year I was born. There was not another Triple Crown horse for twenty five years. In 1973 Secretariat galloped to a win in the Belmont by a margin of 31 lengths, or half a furlong. No horse before or since has ever run a mile and a half in a better time. The winning ticket in that race only paid $2.20 so very few of them were cashed in. They were kept as souvenirs of a magnificent race.

There were only four other horses in the field that day. It was thought to be a two horse race between Secretariat and a horse named Sham. Both horses scorched the first quarter mile and were still about neck to neck at the half mile pole, but after six furlongs Sham could not maintain that pace and began to fade. He would finish the race dead last, much to the chagrin of his massively arrogant owner, Sigmond Sommer.

Secretariat was sired by Bold Ruler through the mare, Somethingroyal. The mare was owned by Christopher Chenery of the Meadow Farm near Doswell, Virginia. Chenery took to his sickbed in 1968 and negotiations for the breeding rights fell to his daughter Penny Tweedy. Ownership of the foal was established by the flip of a coin between Penny and a man named Phipps of Claiborne Farms in Kentucky. Penny lost the flip and Phipps selected the 1969 foal out of Hasty Matelda. Phipps would sometimes waive the stud fee in order to expand the bloodline of Bold Ruler. Provisions of the waiver allowed the sire to breed two mares and the coin flip established which owner would get first pick. Turns out Phipps picked wrong. Eventually he would have to purchase Secretariat but in the meantime Meadow Farms was broke; which is the reason why they could not afford the stud fee in the first place. Secretariat was a promising two year old and Penny needed money to continue racing him and developing his speed and stamina. To raise the money she needed Penny syndicated the breeding rights among other owners. She raised over six million dollars that way, but it was barely enough to operate The Meadows. Syndication meant that Secretariat would be retired to stud in 1974. Phipps eventually purchased enough of the syndication rights to gain control of the breeding and Secretariat went to live at Claiborne Farms. Over the passing of years he sired several other good racehorses. In 1989 he got laminitis in his feet and had to be euthanized. When he was autopsied his heart weighed twenty-two and a half pounds.

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Photos

SECRETARIAT LIVED HERE
The Chenery Family eventually lost The Meadows. It is now part of the Virginia State Fairgounds